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Princess Mononoke

The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious "demon god," transformed by human anger.

Inflicted with its deadly curse, a young warrior sets out to the forests of the west in search of the cure that will save his life. Once there, he becomes inextricably entangled in a bitter battle that matches Lady Eboshi and a proud clan of humans against the forest's animal gods, who are led by the brave Princess Mononoke, a young woman raised by wolves!

If you ever hear an ignorant person say traditional 2D animation is dead, laugh and tell them Disney dreck may be dead but old style animation is alive and well and thriving in Asia, particularly the work of Studio Ghibli.

The studio, who are based in Japan, are responsible for some of the best animated films ever made, including Disney.

You may have already seen director Hayao Miyazaki’s work with the Oscar-winning ‘Spirited Away’, but now that the early work of the studio is coming out, you can really revel in their breath-taking animation. ‘Mononoke’ has a story line that is easy to follow, totally surprising and original -- something that rarely happens in children’s cinema anymore. As with ‘Spirited Away’, I like the similarities between Maori religion and the belief in ‘Mononoke’ that forests and animals have spirits and our behavior as humans affects every living thing. The animation is just beautiful, and sometimes it seems that every leaf on every tree has been individually drawn. The characters are all fully realized, and not just there to be cute and used in a ‘happy meal’ promotion. For very young children (under 5’s), there is a bit of violence at the start (decapitations, demon monsters), and some of the characters did use to work in brothels, but the overall storyline is so involving and strong, if you are worried, just watch the film first to see if they will be alright with the more extreme parts of the story. And it goes without saying you should watch the films with your children. Not just because you can help them in the scary parts, but also it is a brilliant film that should become a family favourite. I cannot recommend this film strongly enough for fans of good entertainment for children. This is one of the best. And if you are an animation fan who has never seen this film, you are in for a treat. A beautiful film.

I thought this was a kids animated manga style movie... it isn't... there was a bit of swearing, a whole lot of weird satanic stuff and a lot of blood... a lot of blood... hehe... so not a kids movie... Read more

A complex story of gods, demons, spirits and humans woven from Japanese myth. Characters are quite well developed and although generally predictable the story was interesting and had some touching moments... Read more

. The animation has been surpassed now by Pixar but it's still of a high quality. The themes of man versus nature and human greed are well trodden but the hero still manges to make them fresh with his youthful idealism. Young children could be a little scared by some of the demon characters and the violence/blood scenes. The thing I liked most was the offbeat characters i.e. the monk, the prostitutes and the little forest spirits. The thing I disliked was the poor visual animation of

between the animal gods and humans are just priceless. To understand the proportions of the story, it must be watched and preferably with the English over dub off and the subtitles on.

Like most of his films, if you enjoy his recent ones, you'll surely enjoy this. There's a certain mastery to his directing and storytelling that tends to immense the viewer into the film as if you're actually there (even though it's animé). Go watch it now!

this is a must see movie, the sheer brilliance of the animation, the story, the characters the subtext the general scale of the movie. i always find myself lost in this movie, i just love it. everything... Read more

about this movie is brilliant. watch it in an induced state of mind if you know what i mean and it will be the best movie you ever see. RENT IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hayao does it again with another beautifully told tale. Loved the animation and sheer creative genius of this very talented writer/director. Check out Whisper of the Heart as well if you haven't seen it.

It is difficult to take side on this movie because everything have flaws in them, it's dilemmatic thus giving the audiences space to think and digest the story carefully. In general, it's the same with... Read more

Nausicaa where human wants to destroy the forest. The difference is, Nausicaa's forest is toxic while Mononoke's forest is a fresh and pure rainforest.